It has been a season of concussions, but even so it came as a bit of a shock when Dr. Charles Tator — one of Canada’s leading experts on brain injuries — first heard the news: Taylor Crosby, sister of concussed hockey superstar Sidney Crosby, had also suffered a concussion.

The 14-year-old at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, a prep school in Minnesota with a renowned hockey program that her famous brother also attended, is a goalie for the under-16 team. She was hurt in practice about two weeks ago, sat out a week and missed two games. Taylor, who is practising again with the team, has an 11-7-4 record and 2.00 goals-against average and is believed to be on Hockey Canada’s radar.

After a moment, Tator had digested the news that two Crosbys had missed hockey due to concussions.

“That’s not unusual, to have other family members who have been concussed,” said Tator. “I know several families that have all had concussions. We do wonder whether some families have a special susceptibility to concussion. But there’s no proof for this.”

Tator pointed out that Brett Lindros was forced from the game by concussion while his superstar brother Eric endured many concussions before calling it a career. Eric Lindros’s departure did not ignite the same discussion that Sidney Crosby’s current injury has fuelled.

“It has made people even more aware of the problems of concussion,” said Tator. “That includes people connected with the game and parents and just observers. Everybody is now much more aware of the concussion problem since Sidney’s injury.”

Parents Troy and Trina Crosby could not be reached for comment, although those who know them say the hockey family is devastated at the turn of events — one that could prompt the NHL to take further action to cut down on the number of concussions in the game.

In a week’s time, all eyes will be on the NHL’s general managers, who will meet in Boca Raton, Fla., with headshots and head injuries atop their agenda in light of Crosby’s concussion and the results from a study of Bob Probert’s brain that showed the late Red Wings enforcer suffered advanced brain disease caused from fighting when he died.

As of Monday, 12 NHL players were listed as injured with concussions, three more with “head injuries” and one with “dizziness.”

Pittsburgh Penguins spokeswoman Jennifer Bullano said there has been no change in Crosby’s status.

“He is continuing functional rehab, but he is still experiencing symptoms,” she said.

The NHL is debating how much further it should go to outlaw headshots. Penguins GM Ray Shero wants the league to at least look at whether any or all headshots should be banned.

“We are a league where you can accidentally hit a guy in the head with your shoulder and not be penalized,” Shero recently told USA Today. “But if you clear a puck out of your zone and it accidentally goes in the stands, they give you two minutes. Does that make sense?”

Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke was of an opposite opinion.

“I will not support a rule that penalizes an otherwise legal bodycheck if that check results in contact to the head,” Burke told the Star.

But in a sign that even hardliners are softening their stance, former player, coach and GM Mike Milbury — always a defender of the physical side of the game — said on Hockey Night in Canada that it’s time for the NHL to get rid of the designated fighter “at the end of the bench. . . . It’s wrong.”

Whatever the NHL does or doesn’t do will have a trickle-down effect on all other leagues and teams, and on the hockey families who are affected now — or might be affected in the future — by concussions.

“We have to try to get the NHL to be a good role model,” said Tator. “We do see movement on their part,”

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review first reported Taylor Crosby’s concussion in a feature interview with Shero, whose 15-year-old son also was recently concussed. Chris Shero is a freshman at Upper St. Clair High School (in Pennsylvania) and couldn’t concentrate long enough to finish his tests.

“I’ll make the same analogy with my son to Sidney Crosby: hockey is not important,” Shero told the Tribune-Review. “Let’s be honest here. This is their health and, in my kid’s case, schooling. You don’t want them to return to play before the doctors deem them ready to be cleared to play.”

All things considered, Tator has seen some positive movement recently on the concussion issue:

• He praised Leafs goalie James Reimer for pulling himself from a recent game after being kicked in the head, saying it’s a sign the message is getting through. “He’s smart,” Tator said of Reimer.

• The not-for-profit group Think First, to which Tator belongs, will this month release a 45-minute video on concussions that includes the latest science can offer in the exploding field. The group hopes teams at every level of hockey will show the video as part of their pre-season meetings. The video, which includes league footage and the likes of New York Islanders centre John Tavares talking about concussion prevention, is endorsed by the NHL.

“I think we’re making progress,” said Tator. “Concussion is now much better understood by virtually everybody in hockey. We’re farther along the track in terms of knowledge and coming to grips with this problem than we were even a few months ago. This is a moving issue.”

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